Samantha’s recipe corner
If you’ve fallen out of love with cabbage, try this hearty and rustic winter recipe for cabbage leaves filled with stuffing meat.
Inspired by the French term for meat stuffing ( farcie), the dish is also known as ‘cabbage forced’ or ‘cabbage farce’. Examples of these recipes can be found in several 18th-century cookbooks, including The Compleat Housewife, The Ladies Handmaid (1758) and The English Art of Cookery, According to the Present Practice (1788).
These Georgian recipes suggest a whole variety of intriguing additions to the stuffing, including gooseberries, grapes, anchovies, bacon and hard-boiled eggs. Some sound more appetising than others!
INGREDIENTS
1 small savoy cabbage 450g (1lb) minced veal, beef or pork 150g (5.5oz) shredded suet 1 tsp ground nutmeg 1 tsp ground mace 1 tsp salt 4 egg yolks, beaten
1 tsp apple cider vinegar 20g (0.75oz) cranberries METHOD
Take the larger leaves from the outside of the cabbage and set aside. These will be used to wrap up the pudding before steaming.
Shred and blanch 50g of the remaining cabbage.
Put the meat (I used pork), suet and spices into a bowl and add the beaten egg yolks, cider vinegar and cranberries. Stir, then fold in the blanched cabbage.
Line a greased pudding basin with cling film and then with cabbage leaves. Add the meat mixture and top off with a cabbage leaf or two. Wrap your pudding basin in baking paper and prepare to steam.
Steam for 1.5hrs on a stovetop, or in an oven at Gas 3/160C (320F).
VERDICT
“A great way of using up leftover cabbage”
Difficulty: 3/10 Time: 2hrs total
Recipe taken from Pride and Pudding by Regula Ysewijn